Tool coupling for sheet metal work



Jan. 8, 1935.,

L. L. CHARNICKY 1,987,465

TOOL COUPLING FOR SHEET METAL WORK Filed May 1, 1951 Patented Jan. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOOL COUPLING FOR SHEET METAL WORK Application May 1, 1931, Serial No. 534,218

The invention relates to fender straightening tools of the power driven type in the operation of which a dolly or equivalent member is held by the tool in close contact with one side of the fender, while a hammer or equivalent member to which rapidly repeated successive impulses or vibrations are imparted by the power element of the tool is maintained in operative relation and in contact either continuously or repeatedly with the opposite side of the fender and in alignment with the dolhr. In many instances the hammer and dolly members which are removable and interchangeable, are specially shaped to give corresponding complementary formation to the fender. Such shaping of the tools is particularly necessary in repairing or reshaping the beads and edges of the fenders.

The majority of damaged fenders have injured beads and restoring this bead by hand methods requires the greatest of skill. The portable power driven fender tool described in patent to Jared Barton Fleming No. 1,957,495, assigned to the assignee of the present application, is intended to be supplied with special tools including among others a hammer member and a dolly member, specially formed for and adapted to the reformation or formation of fender beads. As the hammer and dolly are rotatable in relation to the tool frame, each of said members being formed with a socket which receives a ball on the tool frame, or made otherwise freely movable, the hammer and dolly or other mating tools might be easily rotated, one relatively to the other, and it has been found that not infrequently they do actually move out of alignment without the knowledge of the operator, one of the said members being hidden behind the fender, and serious disfigurement of the work results.

The present invention relates to a connection, connector or coupling shown in the form of a bow composed of a fiat strip of spring steel or the like, which serves to hold the hammer and dolly members or other mating or cooperating tools together and in the proper angular relation, so that change of this angular relation when the said hammer and dolly members are in operative engagement with the work and consequent loss of time in observing them and disfigurement of the work when and if their proper angular relation is changed is prevented.

The construction. of the present invention avoids this difficulty, and further, it makes it pos- In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a tender straightening tool equipped with a hammer and dolly coupled by means of the spring connector or coupling of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mating hammer and dolly mounted on the fender straightening tool frame which is broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is an elevation of a fender straightening tool on a small scale equipped with hammer and dolly members connected by thecoupling or connector in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the drawing by numerals, each of which is used to indicate the same or similar parts in the different figures, the construction shown comprises a fender straightening tool 1, having a c or equivalently shaped frame 2, on the upper arm of which is supported a motor 3, to which is connected a gear casing 4, also secured to the upper arm of the 0 frame. The motor 3 operates a vertically reciprocating ram 5 on which is removably mounted the hammer member 6, the

ram being mounted to slide in a ram guide '7 25 formed on the end of the upper arm of the 6 frame. The hammer 6 cooperates with a dolly 8 mounted on the dolly support 9 which is adjustable in a boss 10 formed on the outer end of the lower arm of the c shaped frame 2. The motor 3 is energized by way of a flexible cable 11.

By examination of Figure 2, it will be noted that the hammer 6 and dolly 8 are stepped or otherwise provided with complementary shoulders at 12 to form the bead of the fender. It will be understood that with the hammer member 6 in contact with one side of the fender and the dolly 8 in contact with the other side of the fender, one of these members 6, 8, will be hidden from the operator by the fender, and with the freely rotary mounting of the hammer and dolly by means of the removable ball and socket connections 14 shown, the hidden tool may, without the knowledge of the operator, get out of alignment. As 45 the universal connection described is regarded as necessary in order that the hammer and dolly may be made to conform properly to the work at all times. Some difficulty has been encountered in this' work due' to the tendency of the hidden tool member to become rotated out of alignment with the other said member whereby there is a tendency to deform and disfigure the work.

By the present invention this difficulty is overcome and the hammer and dolly are maintained in their cooperative angular relation. Further,

it is made feasible to guide and control the hammer and dolly in their relation to the work and to change their angular position relatively to the work at the will of the operator and without moving the frame 2 of the tool if desired.

In accordance with the invention, the hammer and dolly 6 are connected. in their cooperative relation by means of a bowed or looped spring or C shaped coupling 15 shown in the form of a fiat spring band, the ends of which 17 and 18, are secured to the respective hammer and dolly members 6 and 8.

In the preferred form shown the ends 17 and 18 are turned at an angle to the adjacent portion of the spring bow 15 and spot welded, brazed or otherwise secured to the respective hammer member 6 and dolly member 8. An important feature of the invention resides in the cooperation of this spring bow 15 elongated as shown, with the c shaped frame 2 of the tool and the hammer member 6 and dolly member 8, whereby the tool is enabled to span the work applying the hammer and dolly to opposite sides of the fenders without interfering with the operation of the hammer and dolly connector or coupling 15, which holds the hammer and dolly in cooperation and corresponding mating angular relation. Another advantage of the invention is that in this way the corresponding hammer and dolly are coupled and can be conveniently handled as a single unit.

In the operation of the tool it will be understood that when a fender is to be straightened by means of the tool, the proper cooperating hammer and dolly 6 and 8, are mounted on the ram 5 and the dolly support 9. Being permanently connected by the spring bow 15, they are picked up as a unit and handled together so that there is no chance of mismating them. When the hammer and dolly 8 have been placed in position on the tool, the fender is passed between the members 6 and 8, both the coupling 15 and the frame 2 straddling the fender, and when these members have been brought into the vicinity of the damaged portion of the fender, the screw 9 is turned to bring the hammer and dolly into operative relation to the fender, and the motor 3 is energized. Repeated impulses due to the vibration of the hammer by the motor are applied by the hammer to the fender and the reaction of each impulse is applied to the opposite side of the fender by the dolly 9. The

- compressing and smoothing action of the tool on the fender is thus made eifective and continued until the work to be done by the particular pair of tools 6 and 8 has been completed as described in patent to Jared Barton Fleming, No. 1,957,495, granted May 8, 1934.

In the regular practice the fender is first smoothed and then the beads are reformed. The hammer and dolly 6 and 8, shown in the drawing, are bead forming tools as to which the cooperative mating relation of these members brought about by the connector bow 15 is more important than with the hammer and dolly used in the regular straightening operation though the coupling is useful under all circumstances.

As already pointed out, the coupling may be utilized to position the dies relatively to the frame, particularly where the work is cramped so that the frame can not be kept in fixed alignment with the shoulder 12 on the die, or for any reason it is desirable to control the angular position of the shoulder 12 relatively to the frame. The coupling also saves time by enabling the operator to handle any two mating members as a unit and it prevents mismating of the hammer and dolly member.

I have thus described specifically and in detail a single embodiment of my invention in the preferred form in order that the manner of applying, using and operating the same may be fully understood, however, the specific terms herein are used descriptively rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination in a power driven fender tool having a frame adapted to straddle the fender, of a ram adapted to be supported by said frame on one side of the fender, means for supporting a dolly on said frame to engage the other side of the fender in alignment with the ram, cooperating hammer and dolly members mounted on the ram and dolly support in alignment with each other and rotatable about the axis of the ram, and means adapted to straddle the fender, conn'ecting said hammer and dolly members to hold them in mating relation.

2. The combination in a portable power driven fender tool having a C shaped frame of means supporting a ram at the end of one arm of the C and power operated means for reciprocating the ram, means at the end of the other arm of the C and in alignment with the ram for supporting a dolly, means for mounting a hammer member on the ram and a dolly member on the support permitting them to have angular motion substantially about the axis of the ram and relatively to the ram and support, and a loop shaped coupling secured to the hammer member and to the corresponding dolly member, holding them in predetermined angular relation.

3. The combination in a portable power driven tool for shaping sheet metal, the same having a C shaped frame, means supporting a ram at the end of one arm of the C and power operated means for reciprocating the ram, means at the end of the other arm of the C and in alignment with the ram for supporting a dolly, means for mounting a hammer member on the ram and a dolly member on the support permitting them to have angular motion transversely to the motion of the ram, and means secured to the hammer member and to the corresponding dolly member, holding them in predetermined angular relation, said coupling means consisting of a spring band in the form of a loop adapted to straddle the work.

4. The combination with a hammer and dolly member formed to operate in mating relation and adapted for connection to a power driven tool for shaping sheet metal of a coupling connecting said members, said coupling member being adapted to straddle the work and affording a resilient connection for the hammer and dolly members, permitting them to vibrate one relatively to the other in the operation of the tool but maintaining their angular relation the connection between each die and the coupling being permanent.

5. The combination in a po ab D mer having a 0 frame of a pair of cooperating hammer and dolly members adapted to cooperate in a predetermined mating relation so that a change of angularity renders them inoperat ve, said members b ing adapted f0? engagement wlth said portable power driven tool for shaping sheet freely movable one toward and from the other in response to the reciprocations of said tool.

7. The combination with a pair of cooperating hammer and dolly members adapted for operative engagement with a portable power driven fender tool which straddles the fender of a c shaped resilient coupling connected at one end to the hammer member, and at the other end to the dolly member, said coupling consisting of a resilient spring band secured at its-respective ends 10 to said respective hammer and dolly members.

LA'I'IMER L. CHARNICKY. 

